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This week, European Union finance ministers agreed to establish a common EU blacklist of so-called “non-cooperative jurisdictions” – in other words, tax havens. With one tax scandal unfolding after the other, listing and sanctioning tax havens may seem like a good solution. However, as tempting as it may sound, this EU exercise is doomed to fail – and here’s why. The proposal
for a common blacklist stems from the European Commission’s external strategy on tax, which was published this January. However,
tax havens are not an external matter to the EU, quite the contrary – some of
the world’s most powerful tax havens are to be found in Europe.
For
example, a new report from Oxfam uses European Commission (EC) data
to analyse the role of the Netherlands as ...

by Koen Roovers, EU Lead Advocate at the Financial Transparency Coalition. This post was originally published on the Financial Transparency Coalition's website. Earlier this week, the Dutch Finance Minister, Mr Dijsselbloem, announced that the government ...

Hidden Profits – a new report coordinated by Eurodad – exposes the policies that keep transnational companies’ profits untaxed. Coming hot on the heels of the recent leak from Luxembourg exposing corporate tax deals, the report finds that an important part of the tax dodging scandal is corporate secrecy. The report recommends a public register of beneficial owners as a key solution. The EU can make this happen in its review of its Anti-Money Laundering Directive, but urgent action is needed to counterbalance resistance to this idea. Last week’s leak from Luxembourg – quickly dubbed ‘Lux Leaks’ – shone some rare light into the secret world of how transnational companies get away with dodging their tax bills. Transnational companies have saved billions of dollars in taxes by ...

Developing countries vote united for a new regime, EU is divided 10th September 2014 The way debt crises are managed could change forever following a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution paving the way for an international treaty to manage sovereign debt crises. The resolution, which was passed by 124 votes to 11 yesterday (Tuesday at 21:30 CET), gives the UN the mandate to create a multilateral legal framework for debt restructuring. For the first time since the United Nations began negotiating ...

This article originally appeared on OpenDemocracy.net The EU seeks to become the standard-bearer on financial transparency. But right now, it’s still too easy to get away with shady dealings in Europe. By Koen Roovers (Financial Transparency Coalition) Since February of last year, the European Union has made money laundering and terrorist financing a central focus. In reviewing and updating the third Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), the European Union has tried to target the process by which criminal proceeds and illicit funds are moved throughout the continent and beyond. We’ve been following their progress closely, and have advocated for sensible reform to allow the EU to set the standard on anti-money laundering. But to be the standard-bearer on financial transparency, EU ...

After a year of many political promises to finally take action in the fight
against tax dodging, EU leaders met on December 19-20 but missed the
opportunity to make progress on tax information exchange by delaying – yet
again – the adoption ...

Monday 16th December 2013 European leaders should use their meeting this week to agree concrete action against tax dodging, civil society organisations (CSOs) urge in a new report. The European Council, which meets on 19th and 20th December, promised in May to crack down on tax dodging, which costs Europe around 1 trillion Euros every year. When it comes to the world’s developing countries, conservative estimates report that these countries lose between €660 and €870 billion each ...

The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) today
(Thursday) launches its new report which explores the EU’s practise of working
with the private sector to partially fund, as well as benefit from, development
programmes in poor countries.
‘A dangerous blend? The EU’s agenda to
‘blend’ public development finance with private finance’, calls for an immediate end to the controversial financing
mechanisms until there is a radical improvement in accountability and
transparency. ...